


Right and Wrong

by AwkwardOwl



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Legends - All Media Types, Star Wars Prequel Trilogy
Genre: F/F, It's gonna be a while, Jedi, Legends lore, Lesbian Character, Light Side, OC/OC - Freeform, POV Female Character, Romance, Secret Relationship, Sith, Sith/Jedi, Slow Burn, Star Wars - Freeform, Star Wars Universe, dark side, lots of tension, self doubt, star wars legends - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-01-05
Updated: 2018-11-10
Packaged: 2019-02-28 13:46:14
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 4
Words: 21,716
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13272696
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AwkwardOwl/pseuds/AwkwardOwl
Summary: Jedi Padawan Melnica is restless and eager to make a difference in the galaxy. On a mission to a jungle covered Sith planet however she is suddenly thrust into a complicated situation and forced to work with an enemy of the Jedi. As she learns a new perspective on the Force Melnica begins to question her place in the Jedi Order while also finding herself drawn to the enemy. Meanwhile visions of death and a lurking shadowy threat threaten to plunge her world into chaos as she attempts to balance her growing feelings with her loyalty to the Jedi while struggling to hold onto her ideals in a complicated galaxy.





	1. Strange Dreams

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a story I've been working on for several months now but just haven't felt comfortable posting until now. I'm trying to do a Star Wars story sometime before the prequels with legends lore and completely new characters that feels like it could be a yet unheard story in the larger Star Wars Universe. Obviously this is still fan fiction and I don't own the rights to any of Star Wars but I like to imagine it could fit into the gaps in between the legends books somewhere. I have the first three chapters finished and am posting them at all once but then after that I'll be putting it up by individual chapters. I want to hopefully shoot for a chapter or two per month since I have a pretty busy schedule with college and work. I might get times where my updating schedule slows down but I promise that I won't ever abandon the story because as a reader of fan fiction myself that is always disappointing. So enjoy the story and let me know if you like it down in the comments below.

Thunder rumbled off in the distance as a dark mass of clouds lay heavy across the horizon, signaling another of the planet’s endless storms on its way. A hooded figure watched the sky darkening with apprehensive blue eyes, her mouth pulled into a frown at the sight of the coming storm. She stood near the edge of a cliff overlooking the miles of rainforest that covered the planet below. Heavy wind pushed against the jungle foliage and ruffled against her Jedi robes causing her to shiver and pull them closer to her body in a pathetic attempt for warmth. 

Melnica had been to several planets during her time in the Jedi Order but she could say with the utmost confidence that she hated Korriz the most. Located in the far reaches of the Outer Rim on the edge of known space the world was once one of the major strongholds that made up the core of the ancient Sith empires but had been abandoned after the extinction of the Sith. It was a wet miserable world with large jungles that covered the planet along with scattered ruins of long decayed Sith structures. It was useless as a base, so pirates and smugglers tended to stay away which along with the Republic’s ban on Sith artifacts meant that only tomb raiders and big game hunters tended to travel out this far. Thankfully it was the former that found their target and alerted the Jedi to its existence. 

_Jedi don’t hate_ she reminded herself, but she did harbor a severe dislike for the many features of this planet. The constant rain and storms, the ominous jungle plants of which several were sentient and carnivorous, the dangerous animals that lurked under the dark trees of the rainforest and howled at night, and above all the large ancient Sith temple that loomed behind her and constantly radiated ominously strong dark side energy. Unlike the other Sith ruins on the planet this one had escaped detection due to its location deep in the jungle hidden away from the other signs of civilization on the planet. 

She nervously rubbed the braid in her long brown hair that marked her as a Jedi Padawan, a bad habit of hers that her Master would have reprimanded if he was here. Instead he was back at the excavation site, probably meditating comfortably inside, she thought jealously as several raindrops began to come down from the sky. She had come out away from the camp because she needed a break from being near the Sith ruin. The place radiated the dark side of the Force and gave her a bad feeling overall. Every time she reached out and sensed the structure through the Force she was bombarded by feelings of loss and pain, but she didn’t want to think too much into it. This was a dark place and likely had a history of violence and suffering. Besides she didn’t want to hold her Master back because of her unease. 

This was one of the first missions that they had been given by the Jedi council that was of some real importance. If they were successful in this then perhaps their days of resolving minor trade disputes and dealing with petty criminals and pirates would be at an end. She had been in the Jedi Order for almost fifteen years now and she was anxious to start making real change in the universe. 

Only the mission was taking far longer than they had anticipated, when she and her Master had first arrived they had assumed they would only be here a day or two at the most. They were ordered to infiltrate the newly discovered temple and ascertain its secrets, if it held any, and upon completion seal the structure to prevent any dark side corruption from infecting the nearby life forms. 

However, when they arrived they found the ancient Sith temple in ruins and dangerously close to collapse with much of the broken rubble and jungle vegetation preventing a way in, forcing them to call in an off-world excavation team to stabilize the structure and create an entrance. The delay had now taken over a week and she felt anxious to finish the mission and be done with this planet. Deciding to head back and check on the excavation progress she turned her back on the approaching storm and began to briskly walk back to camp through the large jungle trees. 

As she grew closer to the camp the temple in front of her began to grow larger and she once again marveled at the size of the imposing structure and how something this big could have remained hidden for so long. The temple was made of thick black stone that still looked smooth despite all the vines and foliage that crept over it. It was shaped like a pyramid but parts of the walls had fallen off over the years and much of the structure looked dangerously close to collapse. The jungle had reclaimed a large portion of the outer structure, with large vines that snaked over the walls and that managed to even completely overgrow the dark stone underneath in some areas. 

At the base of the temple she could see the excavation team swarming over the lower levels of the building like ants. The sound of heavy machinery and tools at work emanated across the plain field cut from the forest to house their camp. As she walked into the camp she nodded politely at the workers she saw but couldn’t seem to find the specific person she was looking for. 

“Melnica!”

She spun at the sound of her name and smiled at the person running up to her. He was a tall human with dust covered dark hair that hung over bright blue eyes and a cheerful face. He wore large protective gloves and a dirty workers suit combined with large industrial boots that gave him an awkward gait she liked to playfully tease him about. 

“Hey Chelm” She replied happily. 

Chelm was perhaps one of the only positive things to come out of this mission so far. He was a new apprentice worker on the excavation team and due to their similarity in age they had developed a quick friendship in the week they had been on the planet. He was easy to talk to and made the dreary days of sitting and waiting pass by quicker. Her master was suspicious of him and their friendship, but she could sense no malice in him and didn’t see the harm in having a friend as long as she didn’t stay attached. 

“So, is it looking like rain?” He asked with a hopeful expression and a knowing smirk on his face, guessing she had gone off to the cliff. She rolled her eyes and grumbled at his teasing, knowing he was only half kidding. For whatever reason that she couldn’t possibly fathom he seemed to love the constant rain and storms they had endured on their time there. 

“You get your sadistic wish, there’s another storm on the way in an hour or so. But now that I’ve given you good news you should return the favor. Are you close to making us an entrance into that thing?” 

The quick aversion of his eyes and biting of his lip did not bode well for the answer. 

“Come on I can handle it, tell me” She insisted. 

Chelm sighed and replied “I overheard some of the managers earlier today and it sounds like from what they were saying that it could be another couple days or maybe even half a week to finish if there are more delays.” 

She frowned at the bad news.

“I thought you guys were supposed to only take another day or two according to the schedule.” 

He smirked at her comment and then gestured over at the excavation site and the other workers. 

“Well you’ve got the magic levitation powers; do you want to kick in and make it go faster?” 

Melnica giggled and lightly Force pushed his shoulder to make her point “like I told you it’s not magic, it’s the Force. It’s the thi- “ 

“Thing that binds every living being together and it’s inside all of us and it gave you freaky wizard powers, you’ve given me the speech before.” 

He laughed at her offended expression before she crossed her arms and remarked “Well if I’ve given you the speech before then I shouldn’t have to you remind again. Also, you better watch it because along with those freaky wizard powers I also have a green laser sword of death I can use on you.” 

He chuckled once more shaking his head before commenting with a sly grin “You’re very aggressive for a Jedi. But unfortunately for you I’ve faced worse, so you don’t scare me.”

She crossed her arms and gave him a cocky grin “I wouldn’t be sure about that. I’m no ordinary Jedi.” 

He winked at her before remarking that he had to get back to work. She waved him off and stared at his retreating back for a moment before she turned and began to walk in the direction of the starship that had become her temporary home. The large and clunky transport ship made up most of the campgrounds and served as living quarters for them and the excavation team, as well as holding all the heavy excavation machines and equipment. Thunder rumbled overhead and more drops began to fall as the storm finally rolled in, but for the moment she didn’t mind. It was good to have another friend to talk to, especially considering she didn’t have that many back at the Jedi Temple as well. 

The rain began to fall heavier as she approached the ship and she quickened her pace to a light jog to avoid being drenched. Quickly making her way inside she rushed through the large winding halls of the ship towards her Master’s room and hit the control panel on the side of the door before barging in, only to not see her master meditating on the ground as she had assumed, but upright and off to the side of the room looking outside the window at the rain with a distant expression on his face. He started at her sudden entrance and turned to look at her with surprise before his face melted into a familiar disapproving frown. 

She gulped as she realized her mistake and stood awkwardly in the door way. Jedi Master Marien Luklar was a very imposing figure when he wanted to be, his large stature and height meant that he towered over her and his rugged features along with the scars that dotted his body had always intimidated her. He was a highly respected member of the Jedi Order and she was thrilled when he was chosen as her Master, but he was also known for his strictness when it came to his Padawan’s. Her unorthodox and sometimes reckless behavior often clashed with Master Luklar’s strict sensibilities, though she still respected him as a good teacher. His arms were now crossed in front of his chest and his grey beard along with the rest of his rough face were pulled down in a serious expression. 

“Melnica I believe I’ve warned you before about barging into my chambers unannounced yes?” 

She bowed her head and replied “Yes you have, I’m sorry Master.”

He sighed and shook his head before returning to look out of the window. She kept her head bowed and waited for him to speak again. He seemed to contemplate the rain for a minute before replying without looking back at her “Well you obviously had something to tell me. Go ahead.” 

She looked up in surprise, she had anticipated a lecture on propriety and behaving like a proper Jedi but he seemed to have little interest in anything but his thoughts for the moment. “I just wanted to report Master that the excavation team thinks that it could be another few days before we can enter the temple.” 

He absorbed the information and gave a slight nod but did not break his gaze with the window. A moment of silence passed before he spoke again.

“Have you been doing your meditation routines lately?” He asked. 

She raised her eyebrows at the strange line of questioning but replied “Yes Master, at all the times you’ve instructed.” 

That wasn’t exactly true, but he didn’t need to know that as long as she remembered to practice every now and then. Besides she sensed that there was a deeper meaning to his questioning that went beyond the simple subject of her meditation routines. 

“Why do you ask?” 

He still wouldn’t look at her and ignored her question, instead asking insistently with a deep sense of urgency to his voice “You haven’t felt anything unusual or strange from the Force during your meditation sessions?” 

She started to feel slightly worried at the strange behavior of her master and his odd questioning. What did he mean by unusual or strange? And where was this all coming from? 

“Well you know besides the whole being connected to every living being and part of the universe wide consciousness then no I guess not” She said shrugging her shoulders.

Her Master sighed and turned to face her. She was caught off guard by the strange look in his eyes, almost like apprehension or a sense of wariness. He seemed tired and there were circles underneath his eye that suggested several restless nights. Melnica wondered what was prompting these questions from her Master. He was asking her if she had felt anything unusual or strange in the Force, did that mean he already had felt something like that? 

“Did something happen Master? Why are you asking about all this?” 

He paused for a moment before speaking, as if carefully considering what he was about to say. 

“I’ve begun to sense some strange things through the Force lately during our time here. They are… concerning to say the least. I just want to know if you’ve sensed anything that’s felt off in your time here or seen any strange things you couldn’t explain?” 

Melnica sensed that there was still something her master was holding back. He wasn’t telling her the full truth and it frustrated her. Did he not trust her? 

She crossed her arms and replied “No, nothing besides creepy feelings from the Sith temple. Why? What have you seen Master?”

Now he was the one who looked uncomfortable. His large bushy eyebrows were furrowed on the top of his head and he couldn’t seem to look her in the eye. After a long moment of silence he finally shook his head and rubbed his beard before glancing back in her direction. He now held her gaze as he spoke. 

“Alright then my Padawan. I’ve had visions of your future for the past few nights and they trouble me. I see many trials and danger in your future. You will be tested and tempted, I want to believe that you will not fail but that is not up to me. You must rely on your training and the Force to guide you in your actions. Remember that these visions I’ve seen are not set in stone because while a Jedi might sense the future we alone determine our destinies, not visions and prophecy.”

Melnica’s brow furrowed as she tried to process what her Master had just told her. She felt like she had even more questions than ever before. Frustration again rose up in her at the vagueness of her Master’s words and his doubt in her. 

“But Master you haven’t even told me what the visions were or what this danger is. Shouldn’t I at least be told something more if you’re going to warn me at all? Or do you just not trust me?” 

Master Luklar’s face dropped and his shoulders seemed to slump under an invisible burden. He sighed and walked over to her, placing a hand on her shoulder and extending calming waves of Force energy towards her. The bitter part of her resisted but soon she felt herself calming and listening to her Master’s words. 

“It’s not that I don’t trust you Melnica. The future is not something to be messed with lightly and I have no idea what effect telling you my visions might have on your future actions. Besides my visions were hazy and extremely metaphorical, while I am certain in the main message the Force was trying to tell me the other details are obscured. I just know that there is danger and much instability in your future, the reasons why are things I can only guess at. But I believe in you Melnica you shouldn’t question that. Just remember the Code and your teachings and you won’t stray.”

Melnica stepped away from her Master and broke their Force connection as she attempted to straighten things out in her mind. From what her Master said she would face hardship sometime in the future, but from what he didn’t know or wouldn’t say. Apparently, this trouble also seemed to make him think she was at the risk of straying from the path of the Jedi. Without her Master’s calming Force presence frustration again rose up in her as she felt stuck with little answers and even more questions. She wanted to believe that her Master knew best and that this was in her best interest, but how could it be when it all felt so wrong to her? 

“Is there something else you wish to say my Padawan?”

Her Master’s voice surprised her and she realized that she had now become the one lost in their thoughts. She thought for a moment before stammering a quick refusal and turning to leave the room, her head still swimming with thoughts of visions, cryptic warnings, and an ominous future. Those thoughts followed her down the hall into her own room and remained with her through the night, preventing any kind of rest as she pored over her Master’s words again and again in her mind. 

Laying in her bunk she growled in frustration as the time now indicated it was early morning and that she had not gotten any sleep. If she let her worries consume her like this then she would die of exhaustion long before these supposed trials in her future. And when was that supposed to be, “the future” could mean a standard day, a month, a year, or several years. She sighed and decided to meditate to try and clear her head and see if she could get at least some rest that way. Crossing her legs and sitting up straight she closed her eyes and reached out to the Force, feeling the familiar calming effect beginning to wash over her. There is no emotion, there is peace she repeated to herself slowly as she felt the rejuvenating power of the Force flow into her. 

After only an hour of meditating she already felt refreshed and energized as if she did have a full night’s sleep. Looking at the time again she shifted herself off the bunk and began her morning routine. Finishing quickly, she rushed off to see Chelm before he began work at the excavation site. She needed someone to talk to about what her Master had told her yesterday and he could possibly give her advice, although she doubted he knew enough about the Force or seeing into the future to help much. But it still would be nice to talk to someone at least. 

Walking up to the excavation site she saw the workers beginning to set up the excavation site and start their morning tasks. There were several teams that had different jobs on the site, the engineers worked on the excavation machines and maintaining the equipment, the excavators did the actual digging and excavating, the explosives team were preparing to blow a way into the temple, and the security team organized patrols and protected the site from wildlife and possible tomb raiders. Spotting Chelm as he walked around yawning she rushed over and grabbed his arm, dragging him away before he could say anything and ignoring the catcalls and whistles from the other workers. “Hey look Melnica I’m really not trying to get fired, can this wait?” He protested as soon as she stopped a good distance away and pushed him to sit on a nearby crate. 

“I’m sorry, I’m just worried about something and need someone to talk to” she said trying to put on her best pitiful face. He stared at her for a second before sighing and gesturing for her to continue. Immediately she launched into a retelling of her encounter with her Master yesterday, watching as Chelm’s face gradually transitioned from amusement to surprise and finally settled on apprehension as she finished. After finishing her story, she looked at him expectantly for a response but he avoided her eyes and looked away while rubbing the back of his head. 

Becoming frustrated she kicked his leg lightly to get his attention “Come on help me out here. How in the Force I am supposed to respond to something like that, much less prepare myself for whatever I’ll supposedly have to face?” He grimaced and would’ve looked away again if not for the warning look in her eye that promised another kick to the leg if he did so. 

“I really don’t know why you’re asking for my advice on this, I don’t know anything about the future or your crazy powers from the universe. I just move stones around and dig in old ruins, that’s really the only things I’m good at” he said rather unhelpfully as she rubbed her forehead. 

“Yeah well unfortunately for you you’re the only person I can talk to about this right now so come on, give me something” She pressed. 

He groaned and muttered something under his breath before saying “Okay well if what your Master saw does come true and there is some future trouble you have to deal with, why would you worry about it now?” Seeing her confused expression he quickly continued “You said yourself that the future is always changing and that the reality your Master saw might not even happen. But even if it does come to pass there’s no way of you knowing when or where it will happen.”

“My Master knows I think” she said with a hint of bitterness still in her voice. “Jedi are supposed to help others but all he does when he sees trouble for his own Padawan is to give me cheap advice and tell me to follow the Code. Not even a hint of what I might have to deal with! If I had a vision about trouble in your future wouldn’t you want at least more information than that?” She asked. 

“No” he answered quickly to her surprise, shaking his head emphatically. “I honestly would rather face the challenge completely blind and beat it on my own without help, that way I know that when I do succeed that I did it with my own skills. Overcoming adversity on your own is always the better way to learn and improve. Maybe your Master just wants you to face this yourself and learn from the experience” he said with a cautious tone to his voice. 

She paused and considered his words, while that small part of her mind that was bitter remained and wanted to argue more she couldn’t deny that he did have a valid point. She sighed and her shoulders dropped as she remarked “By the Force why do you always have to be right” as he gave her a cheeky grin. 

She spent several more minutes conversing and joking with Chelm before letting deciding to let him get to his work. As she made her way back to the starship she ruminated on his advice and found that there was truth in his words. There was no point in her worrying senselessly over future hardships when she could instead welcome it as a way to grow and become a stronger Jedi. Armed with this new perspective and a newfound burst of confidence she made her way to her Master’s chamber for their daily training sessions. They did not speak much on what he had told her yesterday, besides a comment from her Master on how impressed he was with how well she was handling the information. He did however push her harder in their training than usual, having her do drills and spar with him until she was close to collapsing from exhaustion. 

After their session ended he assigned her another two hours of meditation and reaching out to the Force. She accepted the extra work with a tired nod and left the practice room, her body aching and exhausted from the day of heavy training. Deciding she needed rest and resolving to do her meditation in the morning she soon reached her room and collapsed on her bed, quickly falling into a deep sleep.

The next few days after that seemed to pass by in a blur. She spent most of her time training with her Master as he increased the intensity of their sessions and continued to push her and her abilities to the limit. They had gone from having only one sparring session a day to three as her Master sought to further develop her saber skills and her technique. Despite the new difficulty and the increasing ache in her arms and the rest of her body she welcomed these new sessions, every time she walked away from a duel with her Master she could feel her skills growing. She had taken Chelm’s advice and instead of worrying about the future she threw herself into her Master’s training with a newfound determination and could now felt herself growing stronger for it. 

After finishing her training for the day and being dismissed by her Master she left the starship and sought out Chelm. He had been strangely absent for the past few days and had been working more hours at the excavation site than usual and with her extra training routines she had not been able to spend much time with him. When she had asked his coworkers about it they had just grunted and said that he wasn’t even being paid for his extra hours down there, but he was still working nearly from dusk to dawn. It was strange but she didn’t want to pry into Chelm’s life too much, perhaps he finally came to his senses and had enough of this blasted planet as well.

Still the entrance to the temple would be completed tomorrow morning and she had wanted to spend some more time with him before their stay here would come to an end. After looking around the camp for several minutes and not seeing him anywhere with the rest of the workers she ignored the slight feeling of disappointment in her chest and decided to head back to her quarters and meditate before crawling into her bed and calling it a day. 

That night sleep came easily but unlike the past few nights it was not peaceful. Almost as soon as she closed her eyes and drifted off she was bombarded with intense dreams that flashed quickly from one to the other, barely giving her time to comprehend what she was seeing. She dreamt of piercing yellow eyes that stared out of complete darkness and heard the crackle of lightsabers clashing in the distance, laughter reverberating around her as she felt a warm sensation and admired what looked like the lights of Coruscant at night, her Master’s eyes alight in anger and disappointment, another Jedi Master that she only vaguely recognized calling out in anger, a deactivated lightsaber falling and hitting the ground, and more and more images that began to blur into each other and create of kaleidoscope of brightness that blinded her. 

Finally the visions began to slow and her sight cleared again. In this dream she was reaching out to someone just beyond her sight, screaming words that sounded muffled and distant, but found she could not move. A gasp left her as she looked down to see a blood red blade piercing her body, the intense heat filling her body. The world began to tilt and a sensation of continually falling came over her as her eyes closed and she lost all sense of time.

She snapped awake with a gasp as she felt a current of energy roll over her. Still groggy and confused from her dreams she wondered if this was yet another vision and she was still dreaming. Reaching out with the Force she felt a swarm of energy around her that seemed to be moving with a singular purpose. She shivered as she felt its intensity and strangeness, goosebumps appearing on her arm where the waves of energy brushed against. Rolling out of her bed she felt this energy begin pushing her into a direction. Her Master had always told her of how Jedi would sometimes be contacted by the Force itself and that a Jedi must always be willing be follow its guidance. Feeling another wave of Force energy push her until she nearly lost her balance she thought _this seems as clear a message as any_. 

Changing into her robes and making sure to grab her lightsaber and cloak she rushed out of the room, letting the waves of energy guide her way. As she hurried past her Master’s room she briefly considered stopping and waking him so he could come with. But as soon as she paused to stop another torrent of energy pushed into her back and propelled her forward down the hall again. Perhaps that was for the better, if this all turned out to be nothing it would save her a long midnight lecture. Feeling the energy leading her out of the starship she opened a hatch and shivered as the cool wet air rushed in. Making her way out into the ever-constant rain she let herself be guided through the empty camp. Thunder rumbled ominously overhead as the rain seemed to fall harder and the wind blew her robes widely from side to side. 

As she walked her mind wandered back to the bizarre dreams that she had been having just earlier. It was no coincidence as well that this all came a few days after her Master had his own visions and warned her. Going over the visions in her mind and trying to recall the details of them she shivered as she remembered she saw her own death. There was no telling if what she had seen would come to pass, or was even a premonition at all, but a chill still ran up her spine as she remembered the burning sensation as the saber had gone through her. The other visions were all jumbled and could mean anything. Although she didn’t have the time to worry about them now, as the mysterious Force energy continually pushed her towards somewhere unknown, but she made a mental note to meditate on them later and possibly seek guidance from her Master. 

Eventually she could feel the Force energy guiding her begin to dissipate as she reached the excavation site. Looking up at the large ominous Sith temple, occasionally illuminated by lightning, she grimaced as she realized this was where the energy she had felt was leading her. Of course, it just had to be the creepy ominous temple with dark side force energy all over it. _I have such a bad feeling about this_ she thought as she made her way deeper into the excavation site.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you liked the first chapter and the other two should be up already if not soon. Leave a comment if you liked it or even if you didn't. Feedback and literary criticism is always appreciated as long as it's constructive.


	2. A Chance Encounter

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's the second chapter and the third one should be up soon after this. Leave a comment or kudos below if you liked and if you didn't please leave some constructive criticism.

Melnica had never been the most restrained and disciplined of Jedi. During her years of training her Master seemed to be constantly at his wits ends with her loose interpretation of the rules and the Jedi Code, but so far she had been able to successfully toe the line between bending the rules and acting irresponsibly. She liked to believe that the best Jedi were the ones who took risks and were willing to act directly to solve a problem. 

Yet as she stared up past the pouring rain at the large imposing Sith structure she began to wonder if this was perhaps too reckless even for her. But how could it be? She was following the will of the Force, like her Master had advised, and this is where it had guided her. 

Small doubts began to creep in however and she wondered if it would be better to go back and wake her Master up. She quickly shook away that idea thinking _I don’t even know what this all means and it could just still be my imagination. I’ll just take a look around and if something serious does happen I’ll try to raise Master on the commlink_. Resolved she started towards the temple entrance and kept her eye out for any possible danger. 

The low lighting and rainstorm were not helping with her vision however and she often found herself wandering almost blind through the excavation site. She cursed as she stumbled over a large piece of rubble and nearly fell. _I had better be out here for a good reason_ she grumbled to herself as she began to feel her robes getting soaked through. 

After several minutes of fumbling over broken rocks in the dark she finally found herself on smoother ground as she began to walk through what used to be a grand entryway. Rows of large black columns flanked her sides and lead up to a large staircase now crisscrossed with construction lights and excavation tools. She could just make out the ruins of a large gateway, now buried in rubble and overgrown with vines and other jungle foliage. Scaffolding and large amounts of wires and support structures went up the walls on either side of it to prevent the structure from collapsing in again. Construction equipment and heavy machines lay before a large cave-like opening in the entrance where the excavation team planned to blow themselves a way into the temple. 

Making her way quickly up the numerous steps she scanned the surrounding area for any possible signs of danger but everything still seemed to be in place. Yet she still felt uneasy and rubbed the hilt of her lightsaber nervously as she went forward to take a closer look. Hand still grasping her lightsaber she walked into the opening and stood in shock as she saw several bodies lying scattered on the ground. 

Instinct overriding her thoughts she quickly ignited her saber and held the green blade up in a defensive posture as she scanned the shadows around her. She strained her ears to see if she could hear anything moving nearby but all she heard was the low hum of her blade and the torrential rain outside. Reaching out with the Force she felt the cave around her and searched for any presence besides herself. After a minute or two she still felt nothing around and determined that it was clear. Shaking her head, she chided herself for her nervousness. A Jedi should always be calm and in control of themselves. 

Deactivating her lightsaber she quickly rushed over to the to the nearest body and turned it over to examine it, hoping they were still alive. Checking their pulse and reaching out through the Force she couldn’t feel any response and with a sad feeling knew that he had passed on. Reaching up to close his eyes and looking back down at him her eyes narrowed as she realized he wasn’t a worker but a guard that she vaguely recognized from the excavation team’s security detail. What was even more strange however were his wounds, instead of blaster holes or claw marks, as she had suspected, he had several long cuts across his chest and his skin smelled like it had been recently burnt. 

_Oh Force, these are lightsaber wounds_ she thought in shock as she stood up and took several steps back from the body. Looking around at the walls of the cave she noticed that there were no blaster marks or any other signs of a struggle, which meant that whoever had killed the guards had done so before they could even react and defend themselves. 

_Master and I should be the only ones on the planet with lightsabers. But it can’t have been either of us, we were both in the ship. Is it another Jedi? Or something else entirely_? Her grip on her lightsaber tightened as she looked around again at her dark surroundings. A small shiver began to creep up her spine and she tried to suppress the rising fear in her gut. _There is no emotion, there is peace_. She repeated the line of the Jedi Code over to herself in her head as she calmed herself and considered the situation. 

_Now would probably be a good time to call Master_ she thought, pulling out her commlink with shaky hands. Pressing the button to open communication with her Master she was met with complete silence instead of the usual static that indicated communication being opened. Perplexed she clicked the button again and was met with more silence. She looked over the commlink and even took it apart a bit to make sure everything was properly working. Something must be jamming communication in the area she realized. 

“Hey Jedi! Over here, quickly!”

She jumped at the loud whisper coming from behind her. Spinning around quickly, she looked around for source of the voice calling to her. Through the small amount of light that filtered into the opening of the entrance she saw a figure waving her over. Carefully making her way over, and keeping her lightsaber ready, the figure slowly began to come into focus and she recognized a young construction worker from the excavation team that she had seen around camp. 

He was a blue skinned Twi’lek, short and wearing a mechanics outfit that was soaked in rain and grease. His young face was twisted into a look of fear and he frantically gestured his arms for her to come closer. Deactivating her saber and running the rest of the way up to him she exclaimed “Do you know what happened here?” 

He frantically put a finger to his lips and shushed her before grabbing her shoulders and pulling her off to the side of the entrance and against the wall. Reacting instinctively, she broke free of his grip and slammed him against the wall with her hand around his neck as he gasped and began to shake his head to apologize, the long lekku’s on the back of his head swinging back and forth. 

“I’m sorry please don’t hurt me. You just have to be careful, they might be back soon.”

She gave him a questioning look and quickly released her hold on his throat. He gasped and breathed heavily while crouching over. She waited impatiently for him to gather his breath and tapped his shoulder to encourage him to start talking. He jumped at her touch and she felt guilty for being so rough with him earlier but in her defense, he had surprised her. 

“Who might be back soon? Who did this? And why isn’t my commlink working?” She whispered while taking another peak into the cave. She was just barely able to make out the bodies still laying there from the light filtering in. Turning her attention back to the shaken worker she gave him a look that demanded answers. 

“Look I don’t know, I just know that I was working late on one of the machines and I saw this tall person with these dark robes and a hood walk right through the excavation site straight towards the opening. I tried calling security at the ship but all the communications were down, so I just ran over to the night guards on patrol over here. I told them that they should get the rest of the security team but they just laughed at me and said that this kind of thing happened all the time. That it was probably just a dumb tomb raider or something and that they could handle it.” 

His eyes grew distant and a slight tremor entered his voice as he continued his story. “When we got there, they had just entered the cave. I stayed back as they went inside to grab them. They talked for a bit but I couldn’t hear what they were saying. Then there was silence and suddenly I heard this weird hissing noise and loud thuds. I peeked inside and the figure was standing over their bodies with a weapon like yours, only theirs was red” he said pointing to the lightsaber still clutched in her hand. She felt a shiver run through her body at the possible implications of that information. 

“What happened next?” She pressed, wanting to know the entire story. 

The young worker looked ashamed for a moment before he replied “I hid off to the side behind some crates. I didn’t know what to do or when this person would come back and I was scared. I just stayed over there until I heard you coming up and saw you go inside the cave.” 

She nodded, her mind racing. Whoever this hooded figure was they had a red lightsaber and clearly knew how to use it. And they had an obvious interest in getting into the temple, which meant that they were probably after what was in the temple that the Jedi Council had sent her Master and her to retrieve. They also have a head start now. 

Turning her attention back to the shivering worker she looked him in the eyes and made her voice a little gentler as she spoke “Ok you’ve done a great job so far and I just need you to do one last thing for me ok?” He nodded slowly, looking at her with some hesitation. 

“Great” she said making sure to smile at him “I need you to go back to the ship and find my Master and wake him up. After you’ve done that tell him everything you just told me and he’ll know what do. If he asks about me just tell him that I’m going to make sure this person doesn’t get away and that I’ll distract them until help arrives. Got it?”

Looking rather relieved at the thought of going back to the warmth and safety of the ship his posture immediately relaxed and he began to nod his head fervently. “Yes, yes of course I can do that for you! No problem!” He said before quickly running down the grand staircase and towards the direction of the ship. 

Now standing alone in the rain she took a deep breath and looked back into the cave. The pitch-black darkness and dead bodies strewn about on the floor did not exactly paint a welcoming picture. _I can do this_ she thought to herself _I’m a Jedi_. With that she stepped into the entrance again and was swallowed by the darkness. 

Taking a second to let her eyes adjust again she held her lightsaber tightly as she began to make her way deeper into the cave. Passing by the fallen bodies again she stopped for a quick moment. I hope you’re at peace in the Force she thought looking down at their vacant death stares. She wondered if they had any family or loved ones waiting for them at home. _I promise you I won’t let this go unpunished, I’ll bring your killer to justice_. 

Following the wires and equipment set up by the excavation team, and keeping her eye out for this hooded figure, she carefully made her way to where the team planned to blow their hole into the temple. As she walked her mind began to wander towards the identity of this intruder. It can’t have just been an average tomb raider, only someone Force sensitive could have handled a lightsaber with that speed and skill. 

Is it a fallen Jedi? A Sith cultist or some other crazy dark side organization? Another idea poked at the edge of her mind but she quickly dismissed it, the Sith had been extinct for centuries now, wiped out to the last member at the battle of Ruusan. 

When she arrived at the planned entryway she quickly noticed that there was a problem. All the explosive equipment that should have been set up on the wall of the cave was stripped and there was no sign of where the hooded figure had gone. _Frack! They must have a different entrance set up_. 

Spinning around she looked around for another possible way to get in. There were several other tunnels that lead off to different sections of the cave but she didn’t want to pick the wrong one and lose precious time. However, at that moment she heard a large thud coming the tunnel on her left and felt the cave rumble for a bit before stilling. _Well that definitely sounds like an explosion_ she thought as she made her way down the tunnel from where she heard the noise. 

Making sure to calm her breathing and step carefully she eventually paused at the last turn and peaked around the corner. She could see a large hole where the intruder had blast their way in and inside she could make out a hallway made of black stone and lined with ominous looking statues. Debris and shattered bricks lay scattered everywhere from the explosion. Although the dark side of the Force felt heavy in this area and almost overwhelmed her senses she could still feel another presence close by. _I’m catching up, I just hope they don’t sense me as well_ she thought apprehensively as she made her way through the blast hole and into the temple. 

As soon she stepped inside she felt a cold sensation creep through her body and shivered at the strangeness. The foreboding atmosphere of the temple was also not helping in the slightest. The thick black stone and low lighting gave her a claustrophobic and disorienting feeling, like she was being swallowed up by the blackness. The large crumbling statues of ancient Sith Lords situated in alcoves along the wall looked down disapprovingly at her as if to say _Why are you here Jedi? This is not your place_. 

It also wasn’t particularly helpful to her current state of mind that there was a crazy murderer with a red lightsaber creeping around the place as well. She hoped that the worker would have reached the ship by now and her Master would be on his way with the rest of the security detail soon. In the meantime, it was all up to her delay this intruder and prevent them from reaching whatever they were searching for until her Master and more help arrived.

Shaking off these thoughts and clearing her mind with lines from the Code she felt through the Force for the presence she had sensed earlier. Finding it after a moment she let herself be guided by its pull and made her way down the hallway while keeping her lightsaber ready. The dim lighting made it hard to see and she wished she could use the flashlight on her belt but didn’t want to give away her position. _I won’t be taken by surprise like those guards were_. 

After several minutes of making her way through dark winding hallways she found herself losing the connection to the intruder and picked up her pace. She wasn’t able to prevent it from slipping away however and cursed as she now realized that she was lost inside this place and had no idea where this person could be going. Reaching out through the force she tried hard to find the presence she had felt earlier but the dark side was now overwhelming around her and she could barely even sense her current surroundings. 

Looking around at the several hallways presented before her she decided that once again that night she would let the Force guide her actions and hope for the best outcome. Randomly picking a direction she started walking but before she got far she heard a small scraping sound behind her that sounded like a footstep. Spinning around she was faced with the figure the worker had described.

They were wearing long dark hooded robes that hid most of their body and their face was covered by an ancient Sith helmet that looked like it originated from the Galactic War thousands of years ago, when the Sith had performed a devastating surprise invasion of the Republic. She remembered seeing the battle armor of the ancient Sith Warriors they kept in the Jedi archives during her studies as a youngling, but never thought she would ever come face to face with an opponent who wore it. She could spot their lightsaber, not yet activated, clutched in an armored hand and ignited her own, bringing the green blade up in a defensive position. She waited for the figure to attack but they just stood there, watching her motionlessly. 

“Who are you?” She called out over the hum of her lightsaber. The figure cocked its head at her but still said nothing. 

“You shouldn’t be here” She warned them, holding her blade out further. 

At this remark the masked figure began to laugh, she startled at the robotic tinge to it and realized that they were using a voice modulator. _The servants of the dark always hide their faces from the light_ she thought remembering the maxim one of her teachers had always repeated to her. However, they still made no aggressive move towards her and she wondered if this was perhaps just a spirit of a long dead Sith who’s tomb she had disturbed. 

“That’s where you are wrong Jedi. You are the one who does do not belong in this place.” The robotic voice hissed at her. 

Remembering the slaughtered guards back at the entrance she felt a surge of resolve run through her at now being faced with their killer. She could do this, stop the intruder and bring them to justice while preventing the theft of whatever was in this place. She could finally do something meaningful, be the hero that a Jedi was supposed to be. Her Master would hopefully be arriving soon and when he got here she could show him her new prisoner and how she had saved the day. Advancing even closer with her blade held up she taunted the figure.

“I’m not letting you get away with murder and I’m not letting you take what’s in this place, so you’re leaving here with me in cuffs and I’m taking you back to my Master.” 

The figure shook its head in what seemed to be amusement as they finally raised their saber hilt in front of them and replied in a cold robotic tone. 

“Ah, I see you found that little mess back there. That’s a shame, I had hoped to clean it up before anyone discovered it. I have no sympathy for their fates however and you wouldn’t either in my position Jedi. I can’t be at fault when they displayed the same aggression and violence you have shown. They chose their own fate when they stood in my way, same as you.” 

At this they ignited their lightsaber and a sinister looking crimson blade erupted from the hilt. The hallway was now filled with clashing green and red shadows from their glowing blades as both opponents slipped into their respective forms and began sizing each other up. There was a long stretch of silence where the only sound came from the humming of both blades and the distant sound of rain outside. 

Hoping to keep them off balance Melnica struck first, aiming a quick jab towards their masked face. It was lazily repelled but they chose to back off instead of countering. Determined she pushed forward and made several swipes at them that were all easily blocked and pushed away. Backing away she reconsidered her strategy as she began to realize the skill level of her opponent. Adopting a more defensive stance she now waited for their attack. 

Instead of rushing forward however the masked intruder calmly raised their hand and sent a burst of crackling electricity towards her. Not knowing how to counter it she just barely dodged to the left in time and felt the hair on her arms stand up at the burst of energy that flew by her. The smell of something burning filled her nostrils and she realized that it had managed to burn off some small parts of her hair on her right side. Scrambling to dodge another blast of lightning she desperately tried to regain her balance and stay focused. In a second they were in front of her and slashing at her with erratic unpredictable strikes. Losing ground heavily Melnica backpedaled down the corridor while trying to fend off the barrage of attacks. 

Struggling to remember her training she tried not let her opponent break her form and keep her off guard. She kept trying to fall back into a familiar defensive pose but every time she did the masked intruder would switch up their strikes and keep up the endless assault. Eventually their strikes began to break through her defenses and Melnica cried out in pain as her opponent struck their first hit, slicing her upper right arm. This was followed by a slash along her left leg and ending with a direct jab into her shoulder that sent her reeling back, pain and the smell of her own burning flesh overwhelming her senses.

Feeling pressured with her opponents unrelenting strikes she reacted instinctively and threw her free hand up, Force pushing them into the wall with a large thud and catching them off guard. The walls around her shuddered at the impact and she hoped that she wasn’t bringing down the temple on top of their heads. Using the moment of respite to observe her surroundings she tried to look for a better position to fight from. She knew she couldn’t beat this opponent in these cramped hallways. There were several other corridors she could see further down that branched off in different directions. One of them looked much larger than the rest, which could mean that it led to a room or at least somewhere with more open space. Deciding to take her chances she started running towards it, ignoring the burning pain in her body. 

A low metallic groan behind her caught her attention and she slowed down to look over her shoulder and see the figure getting up with their red lightsaber still ignited and clutched in their hand. An eerie robotic laugh began to emanate from their mask and she picked up her pace as taunts began to ring out behind her. 

“You started this Jedi! Don’t run away from it now!” 

Breaking into a full out sprint Melnica barreled down the hallway and into the large corridor she had seen. She couldn’t hear the footsteps of the figure giving chase behind her but could feel their presence close behind, a sensation that sent shivers up her spine. Rushing through another entryway she came into a large circular room dominated by a large raised sarcophagus in the middle. Menacing looking statues armed with stone pikes and swords formed a protective circle around it as to guard from any intruders seeking to disturb their masters rest. Several entrances on the other side of the room appeared to lead deeper into the temple and while she considered following them she figured this was as good a place to make a stand as any. 

Turning around she just barely managed to move her head back and avoid a lightning quick blow that could have slit her throat. The heat of the red lightsaber sizzled just past her neck as she stumbled back and raised her own blade in response. Wasting no time her opponent quickly lashed at her with several strikes and tried to force her back like before. However, she was now able to use the open space of the room to dodge around their strikes and outmaneuver them. Swerving under another quick slash she spun to the side while striking a quick jab with her saber into the figure’s side and was rewarded with a robotic grunt of pain as they stumbled back. 

Hoping to gain the momentum Melnica pressed her attack, making several wide swipes at their upper body. Adrenaline soared through her veins allowing her to ignore the pain in her arms and legs as she spun her blade. Most of her strikes were blocked but one she managed to get through was a deep glancing blow across the face of their Sith helmet that sent them reeling back. She heard a garbled roar come from the now ruined helmet as it began to lose power and the voice modulator shut down. The intruder now seemed enraged as they charged her like a bull with their lightsaber clutched in one hand and the other spewing torrents of lightning at her. 

Dodging to the side she struggled to hold back their furious onslaught of slashes while also trying to avoid the continuous stream of crackling electricity directed at her. Weaving from side to side she defended herself as well as she could while making her way towards the ring of statues, intending to use them for cover. Before she could reach them however the figure was already on top of her, both hands now on their crimson lightsaber which came smashing down towards her. Forced to stand her ground she stopped running and caught the saber flying towards her with her own, staggering at the impact of the blow. 

The two beams of light crackled and vibrated intensely as she struggled to keep their locked blades from inching closer to her face. The blinding light from where their green and red blades met was so bright that she could just barely make out the charred ruin of her opponent’s masked face across from her. The smooth silver metal was now black and charred with a long cut going diagonally across a large portion of the helmet. The ruined face of their helmet now pushed ever closer to her face as her strength began to fail and their blades were pushed ever closer to her. She put all of her strength into keeping her blade steady but it wasn’t enough and she soon began to feel the heat of her saber hot against her face as it was pushed back even farther. 

Changing tactics, she looked down for a quick second before lashing out with a kick towards her opponent’s legs and felt her foot connect with a satisfying smack as the figure stumbled back and broke their saber lock. Hoping to catch them off guard like before she threw out her hand and sent another blast of Force energy hurtling towards them. However, they were expecting it this time and caught her blast with one of their own, locking them into yet another stand-off as both their energies locked and pushed against each other. She shivered at the powerful intensity of the the dark side of the Force she sensed from her opponent and the sensation of the icy touch of their energy brushing up against hers.

However like their previous contest she quickly found herself outmatched and losing ground. Her feet began to slip and she could feel her whole body being pushed back several inches as the intensity of Force energy being thrown at her seemed to increase. She desperately tried to reach out for more strength in the Force but all she could feel around her was the dark side clouding everything and leaving her feeling drained and weakened. Eventually she realized she couldn’t hold it back anymore and closed her eyes, bracing herself for the incoming blast of energy. 

The second her eyes closed she felt a heavy force hit her body and found her feet leaving the ground as she was lifted up in the air. The force of the impact sent her flying back and smashing through the statue behind her that she had hoped to use for cover. As she fell she landed with a painful thud on the center of the sarcophagus and rolled off of it, tumbling hard to the ground. Her breath was knocked out as she hit the cold stone ground and her lightsaber went flying from her grasp and deactivated with a quick hiss. She let a low groan of pain as she lay there with her head throbbing and her body aching all over. _If you could show up anytime soon Master that would be wonderful_ she thought as her world spun around her. 

A shrill shriek emanated from above the raised burial mound and as she looked up dazed she saw the ring of statues begin to twitch and come to life. A dark cloud seemed to come over the room and she shivered, feeling very cold all of a sudden. Even the masked stranger, who had advanced closer while she lay dazed on the ground, seemed to pause and carefully take a step back while holding up their crimson blade in readiness. Realizing she was still missing hers she frantically looked around and spied it lying several feet away, having rolled away during her fall. Summoning it to her hand quickly her she just barely had it in her grasp before activating it and blocking a sharp looking stone blade coming directly at her. 

The blade fell apart as soon as it met her saber and the statue holding it screamed in rage and lunged at her with its hands outstretched. A quick slash of green took its head off and another its legs, causing it to disintegrate and fall to the floor. Melnica breathed a quick sigh of relief before getting up and dusting herself off. Another stone statue came rushing at her and she quickly made work of it with several strikes of her lightsaber. She dispatched another with a quick Force push that sent it flying into a pillar and smashing to pieces.

Looking around she noticed that her masked opponent had dispatched the rest of the statues and now stood ready with their red saber raised in a defensive position, their masked face focused upwards and completely ignoring her. Following their gaze she looked up and saw a large cloud of darkness swirling above them with its center directly above the sarcophagus. An inhuman laugh began to fill the entire room and left goosebumps on her skin as she raised her saber up as well and prepared for whatever was coming. A cold otherworldly voice echoed around the room while seeming to whisper in her ear at the same time.

“Centuries I have waited in this abysmal tomb for a worthy host to stumble across it. Now the time has come and I have not one but two powerful beings to pick from. My how lucky I am, now which one of you shall have the honor of hosting the spirit of a great lord of the Sith? The brash young Jedi? Or this curious specimen who would also style themselves a member of the Order.” 

Out of the corner of her eye she saw her opponent deactivate their saber and sheathe it before raising their hands to the ceiling and the dark swirling mass of clouds. Perplexed she wondered if they were crazy enough to offer themselves up to this malevolent spirit. She considered if she should stop them but just as soon as the thought crossed her mind the entire room around them began to shake and rumble. Large cracks began to appear in the walls and ceiling with small pieces of stone starting to fall towards the ground. Looking over again she noticed that the masked stranger wasn’t even moving or reacting and realized what was happening. 

“Stop!” She yelled at them “you’re going to bring down the whole damn building on top of us.” They gave no response and the shaking of the room only increased. Swirling around she put her lightsaber away and began to desperately look for a way out. Up above the mass of clouds began to circle down towards them and shifted back and forth furiously as the cold voice boomed around them once again. 

“You will not take this triumph from me imposter. I have waited far too long to be stopped by the likes of you. You will submit or you will die a painful death. Nothing you do can prevent my return.” 

With that warning the mass of dark clouds flew down at an alarming speed towards the motionless masked stranger, their arms still raised up as if to greet the oncoming mass of darkness. At the same time Melnica finally spotted a corridor that seemed to lead out of the room, dashing towards it while trying to keep her balance as the room swayed back and forth. She only made it a couple steps though before the masked stranger brought their hands down in a swift motion. Instantly all the cracks in the surrounding structure exploded and an avalanche of rubble began to rain down as the malevolent spirit above them screamed in frustration. 

The entire ceiling and walls seemed to disappear in a cascade of tumbling rocks that made their way alarmingly fast towards the ground. Realizing she couldn’t make it out in time she stopped running and created a shield of Force energy around her, bracing for the impact. Almost as soon as she brought the shield up a large piece of rubble slammed against it causing her to stumble and grit her teeth as she poured more energy into keeping the up the protective barrier around her. More and more pieces of stone began to rain down on her and she felt her strength slowly fading away, already exhausted from the duel earlier. 

Suddenly the floor beneath her disappeared and she felt a drop in her stomach as she plummeted downwards. The world rushed around her and she grunted as she was tossed from side to side against rough stone as she fell. Frantic she desperately poured the rest of her energy into her waning shield as she was pummeled again and again on her fall. Suddenly she hit the ground with a thud, her shield giving way as her head slammed into the ground and her world plunged into blackness as the noise of rubble hitting the ground around her began to fade away.


	3. Lessons in Manners

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And finally here is the third chapter. I hope most of you have kept reading and made it to this point. The next chapter should hopefully be up in about three weeks, two if I'm lucky, time towards the end of the month. Leave a comment or kudos if you like the story so far or constructive criticism if you don't. Thanks for reading.

When Melnica drifted back into consciousness the first thing she registered was pain. Her body ached all over and her chest hurt each time she took a breath. She could feel that at least one of her ribs was broken, or at least she hoped that it was only one. She grunted as she struggled to sit up and tried to ignore the sharp stabbing sensation in her chest as she did so. A sudden flash of pain appeared in her head and she grasped it holding back a whimper as her vision began to blur. _Definitely a concussion as well_.

She took a deep breath and tried to ignore the pain she felt, working on steadying her breathing and reaching out to the Force. She still felt drained from the fight earlier but gathered what energy she could and struggled to recall the healing techniques she learnt during her lessons back at the Temple. _The Force is what binds the living world together and it can accelerate the natural healing process_ she thought, remembering her Master’s words from what seemed like a lifetime ago. 

Breathing evenly, she held her hand over her ribs and focused her energy. A moment passed where nothing seemed to happen and she wondered if she even had the strength left to attempt it. However, a second later a cold tingling sensation filled her chest and she could feel the pain in her ribs fade to a dull ache as they began to heal. She sighed in relief at how much easier it was to breathe now and let her hand drop, leaving the healing energy to fade away. The pain in her chest was still there and her head still ached but they were more manageable now. Even some of her wounds from the fight earlier had begun to close.

Taking the time to observe her surroundings she squinted as she could barely see anything in the darkness around her. Reaching out through the Force she realized she could sense her surroundings again, the oppressive cloud of dark side energy that had blocked her before now felt distant and removed. In fact, as she reached out more she realized that she was now underneath the temple. She must’ve fallen a long way when the floor collapsed, it was lucky she had always naturally excelled with the Force shield technique otherwise her injuries would probably have been fatal. She just hoped that the collapse hadn’t brought down more of the temple, and that her Master hadn’t been near when it happened.

Grabbing the flashlight on her belt Melnica activated it and held it up as the area around her was illuminated. There were large pieces of rubble from the temple lying scattered about and looking up she could just make out the large hole which she had fallen through. Inspecting a nearby wall she noticed that it was a smooth natural stone. Placing her hand on it and reaching out with the Force she could sense that she had fallen into what seemed like a large interconnected cave system underneath the Sith temple. 

_Why do I let myself get put in these situations_? She thought groaning and letting her head rest against the cool stone in front of her. An annoying little voice in the back of her mind replayed her thoughts earlier of being a hero, before the disastrous fight with the masked intruder. She supposed that situation could’ve been handled better, no doubt something her Master would make sure to tell her when she finally found her way back to him. But there was nothing to be done about it now. Taking a second to rest against the cold stone she then moved away from the wall and began to look for a way out. 

_There is no way I’m sticking around to see what lives in the caves underneath a Sith temple_ she thought taking her lightsaber off her belt with her free hand. Keeping her weapon and light clutched firmly in her hands she kept her eyes peeled for any sign of life among the shadows and rocks. She had heard tales of hideous creatures bred by twisted dark side alchemy to guard Sith temples and how even centuries after the abandonment of these places by their masters the beasts remained, lurking in the ruins to attack any intruder who would set foot in their halls. She wasn’t in much condition to fight off a pack of Sith beasts, the duel and fall from the tomb room had drained a great deal of her energy.

Stepping carefully over the shattered rubble and rocks she walked towards a section of the cave that seemed clearer of rubble and debris. As she grew closer to the other side of the cave she began to sense a presence that had been there recently. Its aura gave off a familiar chilling dark side energy and with a start she recognized it as the Force presence she sensed earlier from the masked intruder she had fought. She had assumed they must’ve been crushed or killed in the fall, as they were directly underneath all the falling rubble, but it seems they survived somehow. 

Melnica followed the aura towards a section of the cave that began to branch off into two separate tunnels that went deeper into the underground cave network. Scattered droppings of blood and a lingering dark side energy around the tunnel on the left told her where her opponent had gone. Biting her lip, she looked indecisively between her two options. _Well Melnica the Force is giving you a pretty straightforward choice. Either cut your losses and try to find a way out of here or go after them and finish what you started_. 

She knew the safe bet would be to try to find her way back and tell her Master what had happened, then return to the area with reinforcements. But by that time the intruder could be long gone along with whatever was so important in the temple to bring them here. And while she might not have been a match for the masked stranger in their initial engagement, the blood on the ground and the effort she knew it must’ve taken to collapse a room of stone meant that her opponent was now likely weakened. If she still wanted to apprehend them now was her last chance. _It would be a shame to have gone through all that just to let them get away in the end_.

Sighing she once again that night decided to take the riskier option, turning off her flashlight and putting it away before gripping her lightsaber hilt with both hands and proceeding down the tunnel entrance on the left. _Hopefully this goes better than the first time_ she thought grimly while readjusting her grip on her weapon. I would hate to be stuck down here because of another cave in. 

If she had any luck as well this intruder would also know a way out of these caves, they already seemed to be knowledgeable enough about the temple to find a way in and navigate while inside. Melnica had the foreboding sense that she could wander these dark tunnels for days and not find a way out. After following the trail of blood and dark side energy through the winding tunnel for some time she began to worry that her opponent was too far ahead of her to catch up to. But there was no going back now, she had already committed to this decision. 

She rounded the corner of another turn and immediately felt her heart race as she looked further down the tunnel and saw a tall body lying face down on the ground, covered in a familiar looking black robe. Advancing carefully, she kept her saber ready while keeping an eye out for any signs of a trap. But there were no signs of movement from the figure on the ground and the area seemed to be clear. Stopping over the motionless body she noticed that they were still loosely grasping their lightsaber in their outstretched hand. 

Reaching out with her foot she gently kicked the weapon out of their motionless grasp and summoned it to her free hand. Bringing it closer to her face she examined the hilt and marveled at its craftmanship. It was made of a smooth black metal that felt cold to the touch, even on the grip. Various strange symbols from a language she didn’t recognize covered the exterior and gave the weapon an almost artistic look to it. It was clear that this was not the weapon of a Jedi, even a former one. 

After admiring it for a moment longer she secured it on her belt along with her own lightsaber and returned her attention to the body in front her. Before she did anything though there was another precaution she wanted to take. Grabbing the cuffs on her belt Melnica knelt and quickly secured their hands behind their back, with yet again no response from them. Flipping them over she winced as she saw they had been lying on a pool of fresh blood. Their chest underneath the black robe was barely moving up and down, the only indication that they were still alive. 

Her gaze traveled upward towards the helmet that covered their head and she cringed even more as she saw the state of it. The face of the helmet was completely unrecognizable as the metal was now twisted and misshapen in a way that looked extremely uncomfortable. It seemed that their helmet had taken a large part of the impact on their fall. Just looking at it made Melnica feel claustrophobic, she couldn’t imagine what it felt like for them. _I wouldn’t want anyone to wear that thing, even if they did just try to kill me_. 

Reaching over carefully she positioned her hands over the helmet and took a deep breath, feeling jittery all of a sudden. She was finally about to see the face of this stranger who had tried to kill her. She used the Force to remove some of the dents and twisted features to make it easier to take off. Once the helmet was shaped to her liking she grasped it firmly and pulled upwards. It was stuck firmly on their head but eventually after a moment of struggling she finally popped it off, stumbling back a bit from the effort. 

Long dark hair flowed out of the helmet as it was raised up and hung over a pale feminine human face with sharp strikingly beautiful features. _She looks younger than I would’ve thought, she could be around my age_ Melnica thought as she became curious and looked over the strange woman’s face. Her eyes were completely closed as her face was relaxed in sleep and as Melnica observed her she could notice all the fresh bruises that covered the woman’s face. It looked like she got them from banging around in the helmet during the fall. Instinctively she reached out to softly touch a rather large and dark bruise on the woman’s cheek. 

As soon as her finger brushed the skin of her face the woman’s eyes jerked open and Melnica found herself enraptured by two fierce orbs of green that strangely reminded her of the color of her own lightsaber. The dark-haired woman glared at her for a moment and opened her mouth as if to say something but just groaned and slumped over, falling back into unconsciousness. Realizing that she was in no position to be moved from this place Melnica inspected her injuries more closely. The bleeding from her body seemed to be coming from various cuts and scrapes that were visible through her robe. Most likely the woman had also broken a rib or something else, just as she had on her fall. 

Sighing she thought carefully about how she wanted to approach this. The idea of healing someone who had tried to kill her earlier seemed crazy but if she wanted to take her back to the ship and her Master for interrogation she needed to do something before the woman bled out. Plus, it was going to be hard asking for directions out of here from someone who was completely unconscious. What she needed to do was heal her just enough to keep her awake and still alive but not enough that she was able to regain her energy and break from her restraints. Readying herself she positioned her hands over the bleeding stomach and felt the Force flow through her and into the woman’s injuries.

She kept up the stream of healing energy for almost a minute before she dropped her hands and felt the energy leave her. Breathing heavily, she took a second to rest before moving forward and inspecting the still unconscious woman’s wounds. The worst of her bleeding had been stopped and many of her smaller injuries were now close to healed, ironically even some of the lightsaber cuts Melnica had given her during the fight were now fading away. The bruises that had covered most of her face were also now much less dark and visible, making her younger features even more noticeable. 

Melnica was so caught up in staring at her face that for a second she didn’t realize the woman’s eyes were slowly opening again. Eventually curious blue eyes met emerald ones hazy with sleep and pain. She held her gaze with the woman as their eyes didn’t move from each other’s stare. For a second longer they looked at each other in complete silence as they both processed the situation. Finally the emerald eyed woman began to shake the tiredness from her eyes and observed her surroundings, her dark hair moving back and forth as she swiveled her head around. As she did this Melnica got up and took a careful step back to create more space between them.

Her gaze eventually traveled back to Melnica and specifically the extra lightsaber strapped to her belt. The woman’s face darkened and when she finally raised her head to Melnica’s gaze her eyes were angry again. She made to move towards her but fell as she tried to stand and only now seemed to notice the cuffs binding her arms. This only increased the rage in her eyes as she got into a sitting position and continued to glare daggers at her. 

There was another moment of silence where they both considered each other, before Melnica decided to make the first move. 

“So, this is how things are going to happen. You are going to lead us both out of these caves, if you know how. Then after we have gotten out of this place safely and are near the excavation site I will take you back to my Master and our ship. If you cooperate and show no signs of aggression you will not be harmed in any way. But if you do try to escape or hurt anyone else I will be forced to stop you by any means necessary. Do you understand?” 

As she spoke she tried her best to sound authoritative and mimicked the way her Master would stand when he gave out orders. It didn’t seem to have the effect on the woman Melnica wanted, as she just sat there and regarded her with a bored expression on her face. There was another moment of silence as the woman continued to look at her and Melnica tried her best not to fidget underneath her staring. Eventually the woman sighed and rolled her eyes while getting into a more comfortable position and replying in an icy tone. 

“Do you think I’m an idiot Jedi? What’s the point of me helping you drag me off into imprisonment? Why shouldn’t I just let you wander these tunnels until you die?” 

Melnica bristled at the harsh words and crossed her arms while glaring at the woman on the ground in front of her. _Fine then, you want to be blunt let’s be blunt_. 

“Look, here’s the situation, I have no idea how to get out of here. I have the feeling that you do know how to leave these caves, or at least I’m hoping that you do because I don’t have any other options at this point. Unfortunately for you I have you in cuffs and I have your lightsaber which effectively makes you my prisoner. I also just healed you and basically brought you back from the brink of death, which probably means nothing to you but it is something to think about. So, what’s going to happen is that you are going to lead us both out of here and back to my ship or I will cut my losses and leave you to die here in those cuffs and without your lightsaber. And if you decide to try and make an escape attempt once we get out of the caves, which I know you probably will, I’ll just deal with that when the time comes.”

At the end of her monologue she put her hands on her hips and tried to stare down the intense gaze of the woman sitting on the ground in front of her. The woman’s eyes were still full of suspicion and anger but Melnica could see the gears working in her mind. Her gaze flitted back and forth, studying the dark tunnel around them, possibly weighing her options and considering if she could win another engagement. Melnica kept her eyes locked on the woman, trying to show her that she was deadly serious. 

Eventually her eyes drifted back to Melnica and a smirk began to appear on her face as she studied Melnica with a curious gaze. Suddenly she pushed with her legs and vaulted herself into a standing position, surprising Melnica and causing her to stumble back a few steps as the woman laughed and began to speak.

“Alright Jedi you’ve peaked my interest. I’m willing to play along, for now at least. I just want one thing though.” She said with the annoying smirk still on her face. 

“No.” Melnica said immediately “I’m not bargaining with you.” 

That quickly erased the smirk on her face and her expression became murderous again as she snarled.

“By the Force you don’t even know what I was going to ask! I just want these damn cuffs off. I’m no threat to you right now, I’ve practically lost half the blood in my body at this point.” 

Melnica held back a long sigh and shook her head. Even arguing with younglings at the Temple was easier than this. 

“No, you might not be a threat to me now but that doesn’t mean you won’t be later. The cuffs stay on, that’s final.”

The green-eyed woman gave her a look that promised bloody murder before marching off down the tunnel and yelling over her shoulder “If you happen to fall into a pit or get stuck somewhere don’t expect me to help you then. My hands are literally tied.” 

Melnica bit back a giggle as she watched the woman storm off, her arms cuffed and awkwardly clasped behind her back. She was even pouting like a youngling. Her current behavior was very much in stark contrast to the killing machine she had encountered earlier. Still though, that was only another reason to keep her guard up around her. She began to jog after the woman and fell in step just behind her as she caught up. Noticing this, the woman flicked her head back and fixed her piercing green eyes on Melnica as she smirked again. 

“Don’t trust me enough to even walk next to me? That hurts my feelings” She said giving an exaggerated frown. 

Melnica rolled her eyes and pulled her own lightsaber out of her belt before poking the end into the back of the woman and forcing her ahead a few more steps. 

“Let’s just say this is my insurance for if you decide to lead me into any traps or sudden drops. That way you’ll be the first to walk into it.” 

The woman threw her head back and let out a biting laugh.

“Do you really think I would just walk myself into a trap to try to kill you? Give me some more credit than that. Besides you wouldn’t even have a clue if I was leading you into a trap, much less anywhere else. You’ve had no idea where you were since the second you stepped foot in this place. At least I was smart enough to do some research about the temple before my mission instead of deciding to just blunder in and wander around blind like you.” 

Melnica perked up at the woman's mention of a mission. Maybe she could get some information out of her. Interrogation and wordplay had never been her specialty, she lacked a certain subtleness when it came to interactions with other people, but she could still prod at the woman and rattle her to the point that she could hopefully make a mistake and reveal something else useful. 

“Wow a mission, that sounds interesting. You want to tell me all about this important mission of yours?” 

The woman visibly stiffened and kept her gaze focused forwards while keeping completely silent, now aware that she had let something slip. Melnica was now the one smirking as she pressed her line of questioning. 

“You know what now that we’re on the subject of why you’re here let me ask this, who are you exactly? Your training suggests that you’re a member of an organization, or at least you were at some point. You’re clearly familiar with using the dark side and that along with your red lightsaber also tells me you probably weren’t a member of the Jedi Order. Who do you work for then?” 

She threw a glare over her shoulder towards Melnica and retorted “You’re not clever Jedi. Don’t think you can get anything out of me.”

“I’d have to disagree with you on that. My Master’s always calling me a smartass and I’m pretty sure you have to be clever to be one of those.”

The woman gave her a small smile and a hint of amusement seemed to flash in her emerald eyes as she held Melnica’s gaze and spoke. 

“At least you have a sense of humor, that’s more I can say for a lot of your kind. I wonder though if you’re different from your fellow Jedi in other ways as well. You definitely seem more emotional than the average Jedi, but I don’t think you understand the potential power behind those feelings. You could be capable of so much more if you only just knew how to unlock that power. The Jedi are only holding you back.”

Melnica rolled her eyes at the woman’s words. They sounded just like something out of the old stories in the Jedi archive when the Sith villain was about to start their monologue.

“I guess this is the part where you tell me that if I only just gave in to the dark side then I would have unlimited power beyond my wildest imagination, all my desires would be fulfilled, and I would finally see beyond the great lies of the Jedi.”

The dark-haired woman laughed at her sarcasm before nonchalantly flipping her hair and focusing her eyes on Melnica again. 

“Nothing that cliché. But I wasn’t lying when I said you could be more than what the Jedi allow you to be. Instead you allow yourself to be brainwashed by a doctrine that forces you to be an emotionless machine. Haven’t you ever wondered what it would be like to be free? To be able to feel anything you wanted to feel, do anything you wanted to do, and go anywhere you wanted to go?”

Melnica shook her head. _I’m not playing her game, she’s just trying to throw me off balance and get me to doubt myself_. 

“It’s not freedom when you let yourself be controlled by your feelings. If I gave in and just selfishly focused on myself who’s to say that I wouldn’t start stepping on people if they were in the way of my supposed freedom. I was given a gift by the Force and I want to use it to help people, not just myself. Your words sound tempting on the surface but it’s just another example of the selfishness of the dark side. I would be the weak one if I gave in to my instincts and let my emotions rule me.”

The dark-haired woman gave a small frown, as if disappointed by her answer. Melnica thought she saw the woman give her a look of puzzlement before her face hardened again and she became hostile again. 

“I don’t expect someone who’s been brainwashed since childhood to suppress their emotions to understand what it’s like. But embracing your emotions doesn’t make you weaker or cruel to others, it gives you the power to free yourself. That’s a lesson the Jedi never learned.” 

With that she turned around and continued walking down the tunnel, leaving Melnica to ponder her words as she followed close behind. They walked in silence for some time as the dark haired woman led her through the winding cave system. Their footsteps echoed loudly down the dark tunnel hallways as they walked for what seemed like an endless amount of time. Every place they passed through seemed eerily similar to where they had just come from and Melnica hoped once again that she knew where they were going. 

Suddenly it struck her that she hadn’t even asked her new prisoner the simplest question of all. 

“What’s your name?”

The woman laughed and gave a biting reply. 

“Wouldn’t you like to know Jedi.” 

“You’re right I’m being rude, I should go first. My name’s Melnica Selus, Padawan of the Jedi Order. And now you say your name.” 

“Well you see I would but unfortunately my manners don’t extend to my enemies. Maybe you should just renounce the Jedi and then I’d be able to tell you.”

Seeing that she wouldn’t get anywhere Melnica didn’t respond to that. They fell back into silence and continued walking for some time, Melnica still following behind her new prisoner as she led them through the tunnel system. Eventually after what seemed like an eternity of walking through pitch black darkness Melnica noticed a faint source of light ahead of them. The light began grow as they walked closer and she noticed a long broad stairwell that led from out of the catacombs flanked by torches that still carried a dark flame, their longevity probably due to Sith dark side magic. As they reached the bottom of the stairs both women paused to consider the ancient architecture and the long winding stairs.

“Is that our way out?” She asked, eager to be out of the oppressive darkness of the tunnels.

The knowing laugh from the raven-haired woman in front of her did not bode well for the answer. 

“ Yes, but you're not going to like where it leads. Due to our current situation we’re being forced to take the bottom up approach to getting back into the temple and finding our way out. Unfortunately, the bottom levels of these temples were often used for holding the breeding pits where Sith beast masters would create the tuk'ata, giant dark side hounds that protected the tombs of their masters. These tunnels were probably their playground and where they were trained. If there’s any of those creatures still left in this place they’d be in the pits. They’ve been known to survive on their own for quite a while, centuries even.”

The woman turned around and the large smug smile on her face gave Melnica an uneasy feeling. She was clearly enjoying their predicament and didn’t seem too concerned about the prospect of sneaking through the lair of ancient ravenous Sith hounds. Melnica crossed her arms and gave the woman opposite her an accusing glare. 

“How do you know all this? And why don’t you seemed worried at all, what do you know that I don’t? Maybe you are a Sith and you know those hounds won’t hurt you.”

Her last comment was intended to just be a taunt but the intense reaction from the dark-haired woman surprised her. The woman’s face became stone cold and her intense green eyes promised bloody murder. Her reaction to being called a Sith and her comments earlier didn’t make sense unless she had something to hide. Melnica’s eyes narrowed and her mind began to race as she slowly pieced together the clues from the woman’s reaction and their conversation earlier. When she finally settled on an answer she was stunned by the implications of it. 

“You are Sith aren’t you. That would explain everything, the armor, the red lightsaber, why you’re here, and how you have all this information about an ancient Sith temple that even the Jedi don’t have. That spirit back up there even called you a Sith as well. There were some Jedi that believed we never really destroyed the Sith at Ruusan and that they still sensed the dark side hiding out in the galaxy. Everyone in the Order believed that they were mistaken but they must’ve been right. The Sith survived, and you’re one of them.” 

A tense silence came over the two women as they stared each other down, determined blue eyes locked with furious green. Melnica waited for the dark-haired women to react to her accusation, to deny it or accept it. But she wouldn’t speak, only glaring daggers at Melnica in silence, apparently not willing to talk or perhaps too filled with anger to form words. Frustration grew in Melnica as the silence dragged on and the woman wouldn’t speak. She was tired of this game and she wanted answers. 

“Tell me” she growled as she threw her free hand up and brought the woman up into the air, not hurting her but adding the threat of it to make her point. The Sith woman seemed ever full of surprises though as she began to laugh loudly and gave Melnica a beaming smile. She genuinely seemed amused and as her laugh reverberated on the cave walls around them Melnica wondered what seemed so funny. Finally as her laughter died down the woman, still suspended in air, gave Melnica a looked filled with amusement and something else that made her uneasy. A certain curiosity, as if Melnica was a new complex puzzle that she had acquired and couldn’t wait to solve. When she finally spoke it was in a much lighter tone.

“I like you Jedi, you’ve got a certain spirit to you. You have emotion, you have purpose, and mostly importantly you are prepared to be forceful when you need to. For those reasons I will tell you that yes, I am a Sith. You have the honor of speaking to Darth Arriana, one of the only two dark lords of the Sith left in existence.”

She paused a moment before adding in the same light tone “It’s too bad that now I’ve told you all this I have to kill you. I can’t let you leave this temple with my secret.” 

The disarming smile on her face suggested it was a joke but Melnica knew from the look in her eyes that she was serious. She would try her best to kill her before they could get out and back to her Master. Preparing herself Melnica fixed a large smile of her own on her face as she met the Sith’s gaze and then dropped her to the floor as she quipped “Good luck with that.”

Arriana fell and managed to land gracefully into a crouch. Springing up quickly she breezed past Melnica, giving her a wink as she went by, through the entrance and up the stairs before stopping on a high step and looking back at her. 

“Come on Jedi we’ve got a date with some bloodthirsty tuk'ata. Hopefully they don’t kill you before I get the chance.” 

With those encouraging words she bounded up the steps, filled with an eager energy. Melnica rolled her eyes and kept her lightsaber at the ready before following, ready to be anywhere but those dark and winding tunnels. Although it wasn’t much better than their current destination Melnica considered as she remembered the stories of the Sith war hounds in the Jedi archives and the Jedi who had fought them. And now she was walking straight into one of their nests. Looking at the back of the Sith woman in front of her a stray thought went through the back of Melnica’s mind. 

_One way or another I feel she’s going to be the death of me_.


	4. A New Arrangement

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well I think it's safe to say that I missed that two to three week deadline by a good amount of time. Due to several pressing issues in my personal life such as major surgery, roommate troubles, and a hectic work/school schedule I haven't been able to work on this story at all for almost this whole year. However I promised not to abandon this story and I have no intention of doing so, although my days of giving specific deadlines for chapter uploads are definitely over. I feel like I'm in a position again to continue work on this story regularly but I will upload when I can and without a schedule since my personal life always takes priority. However enjoy the new chapter and hopefully the next one will come much sooner than this one.

Of the many evils in Sith doctrine the least appreciated, but still no less egregious, was their penchant for long winding staircases. Melnica began to feel a burn in her legs about ten minutes into their walk up the flight of stairs as her already tired body began to protest at the strenuous activity. Regardless she kept up her current pace, not wanting to show any fatigue or sign of weakness in front of her prisoner. Arriana leapt up the stairs with a boundless energy that was beginning to concern her. She wondered if she had been too thorough with her healing earlier in the caves. _A little late for that now, but if I can get us out of here and to Master quick enough it won’t matter_ she thought as she strained her neck upward hoping to see the way out. She was rewarded with only a glimpse of more flights of stairs.

She sighed in disappointment and examined the tangle of dark hair flowing down the back of Arriana in front of her. Her mind drifted again to their conversation earlier and the woman’s reveal as a Sith lord. So many questions ran through Melnica’s head that she didn’t even know where to begin. Why were there only two Sith left, how had they survived the battle of Ruusan, and what had they been doing in all this time since? An almost giddy feeling ran through Melnica as she considered all the things the Jedi could learn from Arriana. She had spent a lot of her training as a Jedi in the archives reading about the stories of Jedi thousands of years ago and their conflicts with the ancient Sith, yet their information had never seemed complete.

The knowledge of the Sith in these stories beyond their wars with the Jedi had always been vague and limited. A part of her knew that this was because it wasn’t open to Padawans and regular Jedi, but even during her conversations with the Master Librarian he had hinted that much of the knowledge of the Sith and their teachings the Jedi had was limited due to their overzealous habit of destroying Sith artifacts and knowledge. What Sith Holocrons and other objects they didn’t destroy were kept in the Jedi archives, although they were often locked and would not open for the Jedi who studied them despite their best attempts.

This wasn’t even considering the unknown history of the Sith after their supposed destruction hundreds of years ago. Clearly the Sith had changed, their numbers had grown smaller, their tactics were more covert, and it seems that for now they had stepped back from the wider galaxy. Who knows what had happened in that time since then, the Sith lords that had risen and fallen and what plans they had made for the galaxy and the Jedi. Arriana was her key to this information, if she could only just get them both out of here without being devoured by dark side hounds or collapsing another room.

Despite her teachings as a Jedi Melnica also began to feel a sense of pride fill her as she realized that she was one of the first Jedi to fight a Sith in centuries and she had won, from a certain point of view of course. She may have lost the actual fight, but the end result had worked out in her favor. It turned out her Master had nothing to worry about at all.

 _Maybe I’ll even get my knighthood_ she thought, dreaming of the ceremony and being able to finally join the order as a fully-fledged Jedi knight. Although at nineteen years old she wouldn’t be the youngest Padawan to become a knight it was still a remarkable achievement to reach the rank at such a young age.

A teasing remark from in front of her broke Melnica out of her thoughts.

“If you stared at my ass any longer Jedi I would start to wonder if you’re breaking those strict vows of yours.”

Melnica startled as she was broken out of her thoughts and blushed as she realized that Arriana had moved up a few steps so that she was now staring lost in thought at her rear instead of her back. The dark haired Sith had paused and was now twisted around, her arms still clasped behind her back, to peer at Melnica with an amused glint in her green eyes.

Melnica rolled her eyes at the comment, dryly remarking “Not much to see with that black robe anyway.”

Arriana laughed and lifted her bound arms up a little higher “I could take the robe off if you want, you just need to help me with these cuffs.”

“Nice try” She said motioning for her to keep moving.

Their walk up the flight of seemingly endless stairs continued, punctuated every few minutes by an attempt from Arriana to convince her to remove the cuffs or make some comment about the misguided nature of the Jedi. Melnica tried to tune her out and instead focus on the architecture around them. Despite the thousands of years the temple had endured it was still in remarkable condition on the inside. Most of the outer structure must have taken the damage, keeping the interior of the temple intact and undisturbed.

The winding staircase was made of the same smooth black stone used on the rest of the structure giving the staircase the same dark and claustrophobic feel as the rest of the temple. This darkness was broken only by the relatively few torches placed periodically on the walls, giving off light in a place that hadn’t needed it for thousands of years but unable to die out due to the Sith magic still fueling them.

Eventually after what seemed like an eternity of walking they finally came to their exit. The stairs ended at a landing with a large entryway blocked by an imposing door covered in bolts and a complex looking lock system. The relief Melnica felt from finally getting to rest her legs began to ebb away as she realized they were stuck once again. Groaning she made her way past Arriana to inspect the door. She tried to look for a handle or a place where a key could fit but didn’t find anyway. The door was completely sealed. Frustrated at being blocked she lashed out and kicked the door, the now throbbing pain in her foot doing nothing to help with her anger.

“Having trouble?”

Not having the patience to deal with her at the moment Melnica threw a dirty look towards the smirking Sith woman and then turned back towards the entrance. She considered the door for a second before bringing her hand up and grabbing it through the Force. She tried pulling back but the door stuck firmly in place, not even budging a little. Taking a second to calm her breathing, and ignoring the amused chuckle coming from behind her, Melnica reached out through the Force and pulled again with even more strength. However yet again the door didn’t budge as her strength slowly poured out of her. Releasing it again with a shuddering breath she rested on her knees for a second as she took in large breaths of air.

An annoyed huff next to her took Melnica by surprise as she glanced up and saw Arriana staring down at her with a disapproving expression on her face. Melnica ignored her and dipped her head to the ground, letting her disheveled brown hair drop over her shoulder and hide her face while she worked to control her breathing.

“You know if you had just waited a second I could have helped you with that” Arriana said as she peered down at her.

Still somewhat out of breath she gave a short biting laugh and peeked through her long strands of hair at the Sith woman looking down at her.

“I didn’t see you offering to do anything.”

“I was going to, but you didn’t exactly give me the chance. And if you had asked I could’ve fixed our problem in a second.”

Melnica straightened herself and leveled Arriana with a skeptical look.

“And how exactly would you do that?” She retorted while crossing her arms.

“It’s a locked door in an ancient Sith temple. How do you think you should open it?” Arriana scoffed, the tone in her voice implying the answer somehow should’ve been obvious.

Melnica sighed in annoyance as a headache began to set in and her legs continued to throb. She did not want to deal with another lecture from her dark-haired prisoner.

“I don’t know I’m not the bloody expert on the Sith, I didn’t think I’d need to know everything about them since you were all supposed to be dead. But since you’re not dead yet feel free to enlighten me, how should we open it?”

Arriana stepped forward, closing the distance between them as her unnerving bright green eyes stayed locked on Melnica. She stiffened as the Sith woman drew closer until her warm breath wafted over her face and they were inches away from each other. Arriana held their position for a moment before answering, the slight tone of awe in her voice and dangerous glint in her eyes made Melnica take a step back backwards unsettled.

“With the power of the dark side.”

As she spoke there was a noticeable click and the large imposing gate behind them began to creak and rise as the gears protested their first use in millennia. Slowly it began to rise, throwing up clouds of disturbed dust before settling with a large thud into the top of the entryway leaving a dark open entryway still obscured by the lingering clouds of dust.

As it cleared Melnica peaked in and saw a hallway filled with large stalls on each side leading back to another open entryway that lead off deeper into the temple. She turned and saw the smug expression slowly spreading across Arriana’s face. _That’s not good, she must’ve healed a lot faster than I thought she would if she can do that without her hands_ Melnica thought as she kept a blank face and raised her eyebrow at the self-satisfied woman in front of her. 

“A little theatrical, don’t you think?” She said brushing it off.

Arriana shrugged and bantered back “Not much point in having Force powers if you can’t have fun with it every now and then.”

Melnica rolled her eyes “Spoken like a true Sith.”

“I appreciate the compliment.”

She couldn’t resist smirking at that before nudging Arriana forward through the doorway. Examining every stall they passed Melnica half expected to see a large snarling Sith hound lurking just around each corner. But the only signs that these rooms had ever held life in them were the countless scratches on the dark stone walls and scattered bones on the floors. She strained her ear for any noises that would indicate creatures nearby, but only heard their footsteps echoing through the empty hallways of the temple.

It seemed to Melnica they left one maze behind for another as the endless corridors of dark stone they walked through seemed as foreign as the cave tunnels they had just come from. Arriana still lead the way, navigating the twists and turns of the temple hallways with a fast efficiency that had Melnica dizzy as she attempted to keep up. She didn’t know how the raven-haired woman knew where to go but didn’t question her directions, it wasn’t like Melnica knew where they were anyway. This was her best option for now. Now that they were back inside the temple the heavy presence of the dark side was again clouding her senses leaving her feeling vulnerable and on edge. Melnica was used to being able to sense her surrounding area through the Force and this blindness had her jumping at every shadow.

Arriana however walked through the dark hallways with a confident stride, as if daring a raging Sith hound to even try and kill her. Melnica respected the woman’s confidence in herself, especially with her hands bound, but considering she was the one who had to defend them if anything happened Melnica wished the aggravating woman didn’t have to walk so far ahead. It also wasn’t because she was annoyed about how her shorter legs made it hard to keep up with Arriana’s long strides.

“Hey slow down, we don’t know what could be in this place.”

Arriana laughed and flipped her dark hair back as she kept walking forward while remarking “Maybe you don’t Jedi, but I’ve got a pretty good idea and it doesn’t scare me. You on the other hand might have something to worry about. These types of places aren’t exactly suited for your kind.”

Melnica felt another flash of annoyance at the vague threats and sly comments from the Sith as she shook her head. _I’m calling bullshit on this one_ she thought as she gave the woman an accusing glare.

“You know I think either you don’t know as much as you let on or you’re just dangerously cocky. This is an ancient undisturbed Sith temple, there’s no way you could know everything that’s in here.”

Arriana shrugged “Maybe not everything, but there’s still enough knowledge left out there that I have a good guess as to who’s temple this is and what might be kept here. Besides I’m a Sith lord, I think I can handle myself in an ancient Sith temple just fi- “

There was a flash of movement as a large blur of darkness dived out from their right and landed right on Arriana, sending her tumbling to the ground. Melnica’s lightsaber was in her hand and ignited in a moment as she realized what it was. A large angry tuk'ata was pinning down a helpless Arriana, her bound arms trapped behind her back as the dark hound hovered on top of her. It was covered in slick leathery skin with a long row of spikes on its back ending in a pointed tail. Twisted sharp claws gripped the sides of Arriana as it lowered its mouthful of fangs closer to her throat while its eerie yellow eyes remained fixed on Melnica. The dark haired woman struggled to break free with a look of fear on her face as the creature’s teeth came inches from her throat. It either didn’t recognize her as a Sith or had been on its own so long that it didn’t care.

Before it could take a bite out of her Melnica raised her lightsaber, taking careful aim, and threw it forward. The green blade aided by the Force raced forward in a blur of light before piercing the yellow eye of the tuk'ata with a sickening hiss. The creature fell completely still as the long crackling green blade extended inside its skull before sliding off Arriana and slumping to the ground. Melnica raced forward and summoned her lightsaber to her hand as she helped the stricken Sith woman off the ground. Her dark hair fanned wildly around her face as Arriana breathed heavily and her eyes still held their look initial surprise. Finally, as she calmed Arriana looked over to Melnica and gave her a wide grin.

“Well that was unexpected” she remarked.

Melnica gave a breathy laugh as she surveyed their surroundings. There was no telling when another one of those things would come back. Glancing back at the dark haired Sith behind her she gave her a teasing look.

“You looked pretty confident that they wouldn’t attack you. What happened?”

Arriana gave a noncommittal head motion before replying “I thought they would sense the dark side in me and recognize me as a Sith, but perhaps they no longer serve us. The dark side has never much prized loyalty, especially to a master that’s been gone for thousands of years.”

Before Melnica could reply they were interrupted by a low growling behind them. Several pairs of glowing yellow eyes peered out of the darkness as three tuk'ata slinked out of the shadows before fanning out and approaching them. _They must’ve been stalking us for a while_ she thought in alarm.

All of a sudden, she heard a sharp whisper in her ear.

“Melnica, give me my lightsaber.”

While it certainly seemed tempting to arm Arriana with three angry Sith hounds in front of them Melnica wasn’t about to give up. She knew giving the Sith back her lightsaber would be a one-way ticket to her trying to kill Melnica. Ignoring the sharp protests from behind her she raised her hand and concentrated for a moment before clenching her fingers and bringing down the stone ceiling in front of them. _It worked once before why not again_ she thought as a pile of jagged rocks began to drop onto the approaching tuk'ata.

She managed to crush the lead hound under the initial pile of rubble but the other two on the sides managed to mostly avoid getting hit by the falling rocks. Still it was enough of a distraction that she had time to grab Arriana’s arm with her free hand and break out into a sprint, dragging the handcuffed Sith behind her. She barreled down the hallways while taking turns at random, mindlessly winding her way through the corridors in a desperate attempt to escape.

“Are you really willing to let us die because you’re too stubborn to give me my lightsaber?” Arriana yelled as they ran.

“We’ll be fine” Melnica shouted back before pulling them both towards another entryway into an empty cobweb covered side room.

Ducking off to the side they paused to catch their breath and listened for any signs of approaching tuk'ata. As she breathed in and out Melnica heard Arriana whisper behind her.

“You’re crazy Jedi.”

Melnica looked over her shoulder to give the glaring woman behind her a large cheeky grin.

“Aren’t you happy that out of all the Jedi you could’ve gotten stuck with it was me?”

An annoyed roll of her eyes gave Melnica the answer. Pausing to make sure that the coast was clear she grabbed Arriana’s arm again with a firm grip and started moving them down the hallways again. Neither of them said anything as they both kept a look for any more hounds lurking in the temple hallways. While the dark hallways had certainly not been welcoming before, the added knowledge that there was now a pack of bloodthirsty hounds roaming around looking for them made the shadow covered corridors even more unsettling.

Melnica reached out with the Force, testing the few hallways around them while trying to keep her Force signature to a minimum. Like much else with the Sith there wasn’t much known about their dark side hounds and she had no idea if the animals could sense her through the Force, although there were plenty of horror stories tucked away in the Jedi Archives to suggest they could. The idea that the monsters in the stories she had read as a young Padawan were now hunting them gave her chills.

While they moved quietly through the corridors the sound of howling around them grew louder and she briefly considered giving Arriana her lightsaber back. It just might keep them both alive, but it could also lead to the Sith stabbing her in the back. She put her thoughts to the side however as they came to a crossroads and she hesitated, looking at the three identical looking dark corridors in front of them. She turned to look at Arriana beside her.

“Which way?”

The Sith looked around at their options and closed her eyes for a moment, reaching out through the Force. After a long and tense minute of silence she finally opened her eyes and gestured down the hallway to the right. Before they could go down it however Melnica felt a tingling on the back of her neck as she sensed something just behind them.

The air moved behind her as something leapt at her and she just barely managed to sidestep it and slash towards the attacker with her ignited lightsaber. A howl indicated it was another Sith hound, who quickly recovered from the cut on its side and launched itself at her again. Now prepared for it Melnica met the beasts charge head on and thrusted her lightsaber directly into the head of the charging tuk'ata, stopping it in its tracks.

Catching her breath, she leaned down and pulled her lightsaber from the corpse and looked over to the Arriana who now had a look of apprehension on her face. She looked at Melnica and gestured down the left hallway.

“Watch out Jedi, there’s more.”

Looking over she saw two more pairs of glowing eyes quickly advancing down the dark corridor. Another glance behind her told her there was another tuk'ata coming from where she had killed the last one and it seemed there was no chance of escaping down the right hallway as more pairs of eyes were steadily coming closer from that direction. The pack had found them, and there was nowhere to run.

Looking back at the Sith woman Melnica made a split-second decision that she hoped she wouldn’t regret. She unlocked Arriana’s cuffs with the Force and threw the woman her lightsaber. She caught it with an initial look of surprise and ignited the red blade, highlighting her face and the feral grin she wore. With the wild look in her eyes Melnica worried she might’ve made a mistake and that the Sith would immediately launch herself at her. Instead however Arriana twirled around the stone wall into the corridor on the right and lunged at one of the advancing tuk'ata, immediately decapitating it. A blue glow and hissing sound filled the hallways as her lightning took out the other hound.

Melnica had no time to feel relieved as the two tuk'ata on her left and the one behind her took her moment of distraction to attack. She had just enough time to throw her hand up and Force push the two on her left back down the corridor, but as she whirled to deal with the other one it was already on top of her biting down into her shoulder and gripping her sides with its sharp claws. She yelled in pain as she tumbled to the ground with it above her and its teeth still lodged in her shoulder. Her lightsaber had fallen out of her grip as she fell so she summoned it back to her free hand and ignited it straight into the side of the Sith hound above her.

It howled for a moment before collapsing on top of her and pinning her with its dead weight. Grunting she used the Force to help push it off her and staggered to her feet, touching the wound on her shoulder and sighing in frustration as her fingers came away soaked in blood. She didn’t have any time to be concerned however as the two hounds she threw down the hallway had recovered and were advancing again. Throwing out her hand, ignoring the sharp pain in her shoulder as she did so, she grabbed one with the Force and pushed it into its partner, pinning them both against the wall. At the same time she sprinted forwards with her ignited lightsaber and lunged the blade forward as she got close to the struggling tuk'ata.

One of them hissed and lunged at her as she got close, but she sidestepped its bite and managed to plant her blade into its skull. The other used her moment of distraction to break free from her hold and leapt to the side slashing with its claws, ripping through her sleeve on her left arm and drawing blood. She staggered back in pain and lashed out with the Force, ripping the bricks from the wall as she blasted a hole where the dark side hound was just a second ago. Its speed was too much for her however and it dodged her Force attacks before slashing her lightsaber wielding arm with its sharp tail, causing her to drop her weapon in pain.

The tuk'ata made one final lunge at her and she was able to just barely grab it with the Force before it was on top of her. She held it suspended just above her as she lay on her back and the drool from its fang infested mouth fell around her. Its eyes were locked on her in a fierce gaze as her strength began to weaken and it gradually inched closer to her.

Just before her hold on it gave out a flash of lightning hit the hound on the side and threw it further down the hall. Breathing a sigh of relief and relaxing into the ground she rolled to her side on the cold brick and looked as Arriana passed her with her crimson lightsaber ignited in one hand and the other outstretched with torrents of lightning pouring towards the tuk'ata now writhing in pain on the ground.

The Sith woman kept the lightning flowing towards the now still hound for a gratuitous amount of time before she finally relented, and the sound of crackling lightning faded away in the corridor. Melnica watched her walk up to the charred body, with steam now slowly rising from its corpse, and give it a hard kick before peering down and inspecting the dead creature for a moment.

Shaking her head Arriana seemed to comment to herself “I expected more from the tuk'ata, especially given their reputation in the stories.”

The dark haired Sith then turned her attention to Melnica who by now had retrieved her lightsaber and gotten to her feet, although she was leaning on the cold stone wall of the corridor and still breathing heavily. Arriana gave Melnica another of her now annoyingly frequent smirks and witty comment.

“You don’t look so good Jedi.”

Melnica rolled her eyes but straightened herself off the wall while ignoring the persistent sharp pain in her shoulder and the feeling of blood trickling down several parts of her body. Now was not a time to show weakness.

“Never felt better, I could even go another round with you if you wanted so you can lose twice tonight.” She said making a show of stretching her shoulders and imitating the dark-haired woman’s aggravating smirk.

“Uh huh, sure.” Arriana said, the skeptical look in her eye and sarcastic tone indicating her opinions on the matter.

“Look Jedi, there’s no need for posturing here. In our current situation fighting each other would just be a waste of both our energy. What we need to do is finish what we both came here for and get some use out of our trouble by finding something valuable in this decrepit place. And the best way to do that is to temporarily work together.”

Arriana had spoken as if this conclusion was inevitable but Melnica wasn’t buying it. The Sith finally had her in a moment of vulnerability after promising to kill her earlier but was now proposing they team up. Melnica began to shake her head as her suspicions piled up.

“You promised to kill me not just not a while ago, why the sudden change of heart?” She asked apprehensively while readjusting her grip on her lightsaber.

Arriana rolled her eyes and crossed her arms as if exasperated by the question.

“I’m not saying I won’t eventually try to kill you, what I’m proposing is that we let this little adventure run its course, and once we’re at the end if you’re still full of righteous Jedi fervor and want to turn me in we can cross that bridge when we get to it. In the meantime, we can both get out of here with less injuries and trouble while hopefully getting something worthwhile for all this effort.”

Melnica was still having trouble believing her.

“What’s your angle? What do you get out of this?” She questioned while at the same time lowering her lightsaber to her side.

Arriana shrugged and replied “Well besides the obvious benefit of leaving this place with my life and limbs intact I want to convince you Melnica that my master and I are not like the Sith that built this temple. Our order has changed and if I can prove that to you then perhaps you and I could be the first step in ushering in a new relationship between the Sith and Jedi, one better than those in the past.”

Arriana then reached out her free hand to Melnica, making her offer explicit.

She reached her hand out to meet Arriana’s but hesitated halfway, still doubtful.

“You tried to kill me, and you’ve admitted you might even try again in the future.”

“If I recall correctly Jedi it was you who provoked me and struck first, just as it was the security guards earlier who first threatened me. You also want to take me to your Master and the rest of your Order which would no doubt lead to my death sentence like all other the other Sith condemned by the Jedi. I’ve always acted in my defense and the defense of the Sith order, just as you would for yourself and the Jedi order. I can’t allow you to reveal the truth of our existence to the rest of the Jedi and yes, I would kill you if I had to, but the important point here is that I don’t want to. If you can see that the Sith aren’t a threat to the galaxy anymore and agree to keep a secret, then we won’t need to be enemies.”

As she finished speaking Arriana moved her extended hand closer to Melnica’s but still didn’t touch her. Melnica’s thoughts raced as she weighed the pros and cons of her decisions and debated the sincerity of the woman’s words. Seeing little choice due to her current physical condition while also feeling a rising sense of curiosity at the Sith’s offer Melnica moved her hand and grabbed the dark-haired woman’s in a firm grip that sealed their agreement.

Arriana smiled for a moment, looking down at their clasped hands and back up to Melnica before commenting “I think this is going to be the start of a very interesting partnership.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Leave a comment or kudos if you liked the chapter and the story. Constructive criticism is also welcome as long as it is cordial.


End file.
